Bravo, mil gracias, y felicidades a todo por una noche inolvidable!

2012 Youthlinc Service Fiesta

Cinco de Mayo Celebration of Youth Service

More than 330 guests, Board members, Benefit Committee members, Youthlinc staff, and volunteers assembled Saturday, May 5 for our Annual Benefit, held at the new Natural History Museum of Utah.

The venue is beautiful - perched above Salt Lake City, near Red Butte Canyon – but what is truly awe-inspiring is the generosity of our donors. In one evening, we raised sufficient sponsorship dollars to support two 2012-2013 Service Year teams of 25-30 students each.

As a direct result of our Benefit, as many as 60 Utah young people will have an empowering experience next school year, each becoming a relied upon volunteer at one service site in Utah, cumulatively contributing as much as 6,000 hours of local service, mentored by adult professionals to plan international service in impoverished villages in five underdeveloped countries summer 2013.  Given the service ethic these young people will develop, who knows what exponential good they will accomplish in a lifetime? 


Such successful fundraising efforts put us on firm ground to launch six Service Year teams in November 2012. Adding one more team is a response to the increasing demand for Youthlinc. In October 2011, we had to turn away as almost as many applicants as we accepted. We filled our five teams with 150 Utah secondary, college, and graduate students – and 50 adult professional mentors—a record number.  

Our Friends & Family Team to Cambodia this summer is also at a record size (36). On this team, local service is not a requirement. Many students who could not be sponsored into the Service Year are on this team, and the international service done will be equal to that accomplished on our Service Year teams.

While our generous guests are a major reason for the success of the event, we must thank our sponsors for completely covering the costs of the evening, so 100% of donations made can directly support Youthlinc programs such as our Service Year. US Bank, Heritage Bank, and Nate Wade Subaru have sponsored our Benefit for multiple years. This year, Sundance Catalog added their support. We could not be more grateful.

We must also thank the dozens of volunteers. Benefit Committee members - alum or current parents of Youthlinc students – worked tirelessly for months to organize the party.  So much thanks goes to Margareta Vlasic and Maria Moynihan (Auction Chairs), Lenora Barber and Lori Hogue (Catering Chairs) Julia Houser (AV & Program Chair), Tracy Lyon (Entertainment Chair), Debby DeGennaro and Shannon Johns for helping with displays, centerpieces, event design, anything needed.  Youthlinc alum, DeeAnna Phelps, designed this year’s beautiful invitation, Program, and many other promotional materials www.thoughtsmadevisible.com

Dozens of Youthlinc students spent their Saturday afternoon- and late into the evening -setting up, serving our guests, and cleaning up the event. Youthlinc staffers, Julia Wee and Miriam Kramer (Check-in/Check-out and Volunteers Chairs respectively) dedicated months of preparation and provided outstanding service to our guests.

Each year at our Benefit, we honor a Utah Lifetime Humanitarian – an individual in the extended Youthlinc family who has been critical to our Organization, and who has been extraordinarily involved in local and international service over the course of a lifetime.

The recipient of the 2012 Youthlinc Utah Lifetime Humanitarian Award is Michael Wells, D.D.S. Mike, who hails from Tooele, is the Utah Rotary Youth Service Chair. Each year, he organizes Utah Interactors (high school Rotarians) for a service trip to Mexico, building houses for impoverished people. Mike has participated in a Youthlinc Service Year to Peru. He is a role model of his profession for our students, providing dental care to Amazon villagers who have no access to this service. For years, Mike has also recruited graduating dental students to accompany our teams in the same capacity. Mike has established a free dental clinic in Tooele, and was the driving force behind a similar project in Russia.
Another highlight of the evening is the announcement of the 2012 Youthlinc Utah Young Humanitarian. Since the inception of this Award in 2005, the service records of the young volunteers who enter this competition are always mind-boggling. Each year, we have between 60-90 applicants statewide. A panel of independent community leaders – representing secondary and college leadership, Foundation and Corporate representatives who support our mission of creating lifetime humanitarians – reads, ranks, and interviews finalists.

University of Utah senior Lisa Moynihan is this year’s recipient, awarded $5,000 to further her education. Her service is primarily with Utah’s refugee population. She has also traveled with Youthlinc to Kenya, and will be traveling to Peru in a student leadership position with our team this summer. To read more about Lisa, visit her blog entry.

Much thanks to the George S. & Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation for their remarkable support for this Award, the purpose of which is to recognize and reward young people who excel at giving back to their communities.

Other highlights of the evening included flash mob entertainment by the Juan Diego High School Choir, acoustic guitar by Janey Lyon (a 2012 Cambodia team member), flamenco guitar by Michael Lucarelli, an inspiring Cinco de Mayo Invocation by Armando Solorzano, Ethnic Studies Professor at the U of U and a Catholic Deacon.

Britnie Powell –a Youthlinc ‘First Year’ Alum (participating in the first ever Youthlinc Service Year in 1999-2000), recipient of the first Youthlinc Utah Young Humanitarian Award in 2005, and a five time Team Leader for our Organization – was the evening’s emcee, providing inspiring insight into the impact of the program.

Of course, as always, our silent auction is a unique experience. This year we offered more than 250 exotic crafts and art from Cambodia, Mexico, Kenya, Peru, Thailand and India – all purchased in-country by our team mentors. Judy Zone, Youthlinc Executive Director, assisted by 18 current and alum students, led our traditional ‘Sponsorship Appeal.’ Instead of a live auction, we ask our guests to contribute directly to Youthlinc sponsorships that make our Service Year possible. No student can be accepted without a sponsor. The sponsorship of $600, $800, or $1,000 is each student’s ‘final payment,’ received only after 60, 80, or 100 hours of local service is contributed and all monthly planning meetings attended. Regardless of family income, the Youthlinc experience is not something a parent can buy for the student – it must be earned.

Some event goers contributed full sponsorships. Many contributed $50, $100, or $200 contributions toward the cause. Each contribution is an investment in a lifetime humanitarian. This year, we had a very impactful donation from Good Shepherd Hospice: $8,000 to support 8 volunteers next Service Year. Good Shepherd will be their main service site. This past school year, four Youthlinc volunteers were sponsored by the senior care center, and the partnership went so well, the company wants to invest more in the sincere, hardworking volunteers who participate in Youthlinc.

Also to be thanked is Bill Child, former owner of R.C. Willey. This year, Bill donated a 7 night stay in a 2 bedroom family suite at La Costa Resort, outside San Diego. He also threw in $200 of spa or golf. With a Youthlinc donation of round trip airfare for two from Salt Lake to San Diego, this limited opportunity drawing item is $4,200+ value. If you have not made a $100 contribution that automatically enters you into the drawing, do so as quickly as possible by clicking here. Only 100 tickets are offered, and fewer than 20 remain!

Our Benefit season concludes, as usual, with our on-line auction of gift certificates donated to Youthlinc. Anticipate this email coming into your inbox before the end of this month, and get ready to bid on services all over the state: hotel stays, restaurant gift certificates, spa services, Saturday’s Voyeur tickets, rounds of golf. Our signature online auction is a great way to shop AND invest in the lifetime humanitarian service ethic of Utah’s youth.

Thank you for your generosity, your participation, your commitment to our mission! We can do so much – because of you!

2012 Utah Young Humanitarian - Lisa Moynihan!

2012 Utah Young Humanitarian - Lisa Moynihan

When Lisa first heard the Jesuit motto, “Men and women working for and with others” during her first year of college at Creighton University, she felt the phrase would shape her life.  What could be more fulfilling than working in service for other people? This concise but profound statement has inspired her actions and commitment to service ever since.

Even before being exposed to this idea, Lisa found joy in serving others. Her parents and a quality education instilled in her the importance of recognizing and working for the marginalized in our society.  During her time at Juan Diego Catholic High School she participated in school wide service projects like the “Spirit of Christmas” in which every class provided Christmas presents and dinner to another family in the Salt Lake Valley.  Her senior year she organized a school wide food drive for the Utah Food Bank, started a campaign called "Melons for Melanoma Awareness" and was a volunteer for one of Valley Mental Health’s women’s shelters.

Entering college, Lisa knew that service could not disappear from her life. At Creighton University, a Jesuit institution in Omaha, Lisa expanded her service by becoming a “College Buddy” in the Best Buddies program, which fosters friendships between students and young adults with intellectual disabilities.  David, her “Buddy”, and his family became like a second family to her in Omaha. This was the first time that she realized how much more meaningful service could be when relationships developed between individuals. Suddenly, the idea of service not only made sense, but also seemed the only way to be truly happy. In addition to the Best Buddies program, Lisa volunteered as a tutor at a local elementary school. This exposure led her to the realization that teaching would be her calling.

Life brought Lisa back to the University of Utah where she was introduced to Youthlinc which she says would change her life profoundly over the next three years.  In 2010 she was a member of the Youthlinc Kenya team.  Lisa completed over 100 hours of service that year and was a member of the Education Committee which planned and taught lessons in the local primary and helped start a library system.  She also worked on the construction of two classrooms, observed microenterprise meetings and fulfilled a lifelong dream of dancing in Africa!  The trip confirmed, in her mind, the importance and power of an education.  “Education is the most sustainable form of service because it empowers people to help themselves.  There is no sustainability in blindly giving aid. There must be collaboration in projects that creates an investment in both parties” says Lisa.  She is happy to report that the one classroom her team built has been supplemented by THREE new ones built by the community!

Lisa’s recent service at home has been focused on the refugee community in Salt Lake.  She was a mentor in the International Rescue Committee’s youth program.  There she helped the refugee children learn to speak English, understand American culture and develop friendships with each other and the mentors.  Lisa was offered an opportunity to serve as the Real Life in SLC intern.  Real Life is a mentoring program for refugee teens run by Youthlinc in partnership with the Hser Ner Moo Center in South Salt Lake. The goal is to create friendships between refugee teens and native Utah teens to help make the transition to life in Utah easier.  As the intern, Lisa organizes and oversees all of the volunteers, helps plan and execute lessons and attends all Real Life sessions. She has truly enjoyed getting to know all of the teens and seeing them grow together. It has also been a valuable opportunity for her to have an administrative and leadership role within an organization.

 

This summer Lisa plans to travel with Youthlinc again to Yanamono, Peru. There she will help teach women from the community to make soap, which they can use both as a market commodity and as a means of sustainable personal hygiene. She looks forward to serving this community, seeing more of this incredible world and practicing her Spanish before starting her career as a middle school teacher while completing a Master’s Degree in Education at the University of Utah. 

Rubios Fundraiser for team Thailand!

The Thailand team is having a fundraiser at Rubios on May 17th! 

When: 2:00 to close

Where: Bring in the flyer to the location at 358 S 700 E in Salt Lake City. 

20% of your transaction will be donated to the projects happening on team Thailand! Invite and send this flyer to all your family and friends!

Meet the 2012 Young Humanitarian Finalists!

A long application and interview process has come to an end and we are very close to announcing this year's 2012 Utah Young Humanitarian! We will announce the winner of the award this Saturday, May 5th at the Youthlinc Annual Benefit at the Natural History Museum!  But first, take a look at the amazing individuals who were interviewed this past weekend for the award. All of the 11 finalists interviewed are highlighted below.

The interview process was tough but these 4 finalists were decided to most encompass the meaning of a Young Humanitarian.  These four will be at the Youthlinc Annual Benefit this Saturday and each will receive a scholarship.  Three of them will receive $1,000 toward their college education and the winner of the award this year will receive a $5,000 scholarship and the title of 2012 Utah Young Humanitarian. Much thanks to the George & Dolores Eccles Foundation for their support of this Award.

Whitney Smith - finalist

Whitney has always enjoyed serving others and has found numerous ways to include it in her life, though it wasn’t until her graduation from Brigham Young University that she wanted to give back to the world first, and serve on an even larger scale. She raised funds to serve in El Salvador where she promoted healthy living, nutrition, and dance therapy lessons for troubled youth and orphans. During her stay she started to grasp an understanding of global poverty and its existence, not just in Central America, but also in many places around the world. This led her to continue her service for the next few years in the Fijian Islands, Russia and Uganda. In her endeavor to fight poverty, she has found opportunities to serve locally. Last year she worked as an AmeriCorps volunteer promoting healthy living to low-income families and currently mentors African women refugees with the Salt Lake City Chapter of the International Refugee Committee. With her desire to continue living altruistically, she has since returned to school for a second bachelors degree to study nursing at the University of Utah. With a background in health, she plans to continue advocating for the less fortunate while finding opportunities to improve health education.

James Baird - finalist

James is currently a student at Utah State University and will be transferring to the University of Utah in the fall of 2012. In 2005 James co-founded Youth Making A Difference (YMAD) and helped take 20 high school students to Northern India to work with four different orphanages. James served as a full time missionary for the LDS Church in Richmond Virginia from 2007-2009. In August 2009 he moved to Kulu India for four months and opened The Home for Peace, YMAD’s first orphanage. While there, he moved seven children into the facility, enrolled them in school, taught English, and helped build a sustainable curriculum for the orphanage. James is still very involved with YMAD and serves as an active member of the board of directors and as Country Director for summer college expeditions.  James enjoys spending time outdoors, he loves rock climbing, cycling and sailing but mostly he loves spending time with his family and friends.

Lisa Moynihan - finalist

Lisa is a senior at the University of Utah. She will be graduating this May with a BA in History and an Honors Certificate. Lisa is currently serving as the Intern for Youthlinc’s Real Life in Salt Lake City program which is a mentoring program for refugees teens.  She is also a member of the Youthlinc 2012 Peru Team traveling to Yanamono, Peru this July. Lisa has been devoted to service from a young age, planning and helping with multiple school service projects in high school including organizing a school wide food drive for the Utah Food Bank in 2008. She has been a College Buddy for the Best Buddies Program which fosters friendships between students and young adults with intellectual disabilities. She also participated as a mentor in the International Rescue Committee's Youth program for two years. In 2010 she was a member of the Youthlinc Kenya team. In that year she logged over 100 local service hours before her trip to Kiamuri, Kenya. In Kenya, Lisa planned and taught lessons in the local primary and secondary schools and helped organize and start a library system for the schools. Lisa also teaches dance at Performing Dance Center and coaches the St. John the Baptist Middle School Dance Team.

McKenzie Weeks - finalist

McKenzie’s desire to serve has grown through serving as the Student Body Service Officer, National Honor Society Representative, Sports Marketing Team member, and Girls Soccer team captain.  McKenzie organized a yearlong project called “Ordinary Mary’s Extraordinary Deed Mission” where the group found ordinary ways to make extraordinary differences in the lives of others.  She recognizes that often times some of the most meaningful service opportunities come as people are just going about their daily lives.  Serving is a big part of her life and has taught her how to sincerely care about the circumstances of others.  She has learned that she can always make a difference in the life of a friend, family member, leader, teacher, acquaintance, and even a stranger. Her other hobbies include playing soccer, running, playing the piano, watching movies, and traveling.  She plans on attending Brigham Young University in the Fall of 2012 and majoring in Nursing.

The judges had their work cut out for them this year.  There was intense discussion and they all felt that every one of these finalists deserved to win the award.  These 7 individuals are motivated, passionate and driven in their service efforts.  Our world is a better place because of the work they do!  

Alex Owens-Baird

Alex is a junior at East High School.  His service experience includes the Salt Lake Peer Court, mentoring teen refugees at Youthlinc’s Real Life in Salt Lake program, the Utah Food Bank and over 50 hours with the Obama campaign.  Alex believes that helping others means building a connection and fostering friendship.  Through his experiences he has realized that humanitarianism is the act of being present in the lives of others and caring for the well-being of all you come in contact with.  Although not of voting age, he believes that civic engagement is important and everyone should serve their communities by paying attention to what is happening in government and participating to the best of their ability. 

A. Steven Espinoza

Steven’s first service experience began as a 5^th grader in middle school collecting donations to provide Christmas for a fellow student and his family. Since that time, he has participated in hundreds of service opportunities. A couple favorites include: managing a food drive with over 220 Utah elementary schools and raising 300,000 pounds of food! As the VP of service at the institute of religion he organized, managed, and oversaw 500+ volunteers in providing Christmas to over 30 single parent families.  A major focus for Steven is his deep desire to help individuals eliminate poverty through self-sufficiency and improving self-confidence. He will be spending this summer in Ghana, Africa educating people on new business creation and development skills.

Danielle Lecher:

Danielle is a sophomore at Park City High School.  Since December 2009 she has served as a junior volunteer at Intermountain Park City Medical Center.  She is actively involved in ongoing service projects with the National Honor Society and self-initiated fundraising efforts.  In 2007, she started SnowCaps, a company designing and hand-making custom designer hats to support various charitable organizations, including the National Ability Center, the Special Olympics Youth Winter Games, and Primary Children's Hospital. In 2005, in response to the disaster of Hurricane Katrina, the group created and organized a fundraiser which raised over $10,000 to support the schools of Pass Christian, Mississippi.

M. Parker Chapple

Parker grew up in a small Idaho town where his parents instilled in him early on a desire to be kind, honest, and to learn. During a two year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints his love serving those around him grew significantly. Since that time he has volunteer in flood relief, community garden projects, and at the Bennion Community Service Center on the University of Utah campus. The most meaningful work he says he has been involved in is with the refugee community resettled in Utah with the International Rescue Committee. Interacting with them both in and out of classroom settings, he has acted as teacher and student and learned much.  Following graduation from the U of U as a Service-Learning Scholar he will complete a Masters in Public Health.  

Rebecca Sawyer

Rebecca is the fourth child of six in her family.  Growing up in a large family is a challenge, but she wouldn’t change it for the world.  Money had always been tight, yet, even at a young age, she remembers her parents serving and giving to others and learning to do the same.  As she served, it made her grateful for what she did have and made her realize there are people who are less fortunate.  One of her earliest memories of service was the year her family helped a family in financial need at Christmas time.  From then on her love of service has grown.  Rebecca is a youth mentor for Youth & Families with Promise, a math mentor, preschool teacher and works with the LDS Humanitarian Center.  She has a long list of service to her community and continues to strive to be a young humanitarian in her everyday life.       

Ruth Arevalo

Ruth grew up in Salt Lake City to a family of eight. She was taught by her parents to reach out and keep an door open to anyone in need.  Ruth finished high school at Alta High School and went to culinary school in San Francisco.  San Francisco brought diversity, opportunities, and knowledge and she began to be more involved in issues that were going on around her.  After culinary school she traveled to Mexico City and dived into the culture, people, and social issues. Ruth’s focus in service is directed towards immigration and refugee work and also building community. She is a Youth Group Mentor with the International Rescue Committee, and ESL teacher at the English Skills Learning Center, an Education Outreach Intern with the Ouelessebougou Alliance and works with Women of the World to help set up refugee women for success.

Sarah Schafer

Delivering food boxes in third grade began her love for service.  Sarah has volunteered with many different agencies, including; The Utah Food Bank, Neighborhood House, Globus, Riverside Senior Center, and Bend in the River. More recently, she organized a bike collection for the Neighborhood House.  In 2011, she lived in Oaxaca, México for two months, collaborating with the community to create a community gym and Kung Fu center to combat the increase of underage drinking in the town. Sarah is now a Freshman at Westminster College, and has been working extensively with the Hser Ner Moo Community and Welcome Center for refugees. She is part of a pilot mentoring program, where she is paired with kids who need extra attention.  She is working on a projects for next school year through Westminster College’s “Take Action” project.